


Black and Blue

by GemmaRose



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Black Paladin Lance (Voltron), Gen, Post-Season/Series 02, Starboy: A Lance Zine, Written Pre-Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 03:03:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14865383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: “Have you tried knocking?” Lance asked. Keith glared at him and Lance put on a smile. “Look, it goes like this,” he lifted his hand, and gave two exaggerated knocks on the purple hexagon nearest his head. He went for a third and almost fell over when his hand passed through empty air.“How did you do that?” Keith demanded, looking from Lance to Black and back again.“Guess the leading lady prefers people with manners,”





	Black and Blue

“Stubborn- goddamn- robot!” Keith lashed against Black’s shield with his bayard between each word and Lance sighed heavily. After a search of the castle which had, unsurprisingly, turned up nothing, it had been kinda funny watching Keith try to get Black’s attention. Emphasis on the Had. It had stopped being amusing several minutes ago, and had gone on to being almost as depressing as the search for Shiro had been. Depressing and _boring_.

Lance pushed off the hangar wall and crossed the floor to where Keith was panting and glaring at Black’s purple force field. Time to divert Keith’s anger before he had a meltdown or something. A pointless, petty argument would get Keith’s mind off of the current situation just fine. “Have you tried knocking?” Lance asked. Keith glared at him and Lance put on a smile. “Look, it goes like this,” he lifted his hand, and gave two exaggerated knocks on the purple hexagon nearest his head. He went for a third and almost fell over when his hand passed through empty air.

“How did you do that?” Keith demanded, looking from Lance to Black and back again.

“Guess the leading lady prefers people with manners,” Lance shrugged, and Keith swung at his head. Lance dodged easily; it was a wide swipe of irritation that he was all too familiar with, and he took a step towards Shiro’s lion. “C’mon, let’s see if we missed anything in that first sweep.”

“Good plan,” Keith nodded, and Lance smiled when Black lowered her head. The ramp inside her mouth was almost identical to the one in Blue’s, just proportioned differently for a larger robot. Oh, yeah, and lit with purple lights instead of blue, because black light wasn’t visible and made things look weird to boot. He was musing on how the dashboard must look when a loud CLANG filled the room and those soft purple lights became the only illumination. Lance whirled around, and yelped at the sight of the inside of Black’s teeth.

“Keith!”

“I’m fine,” Keith called from outside, and Lance relaxed slightly. “Did you spook her or something?”

“I don’t know,” Lance admitted, keeping his voice loud enough to carry through the metallic alloy which made up Black’s jaw. “Get Allura, maybe she can help.”

“Stay put,” Keith replied, and Lance imagined he could hear retreating footsteps. Stay put. How old did Keith think he was? It wasn’t like he was going to go hide in Black’s internal storage unit and scare the others when they came looking for him, though he made a mental note of that idea for later. He headed for the ladder which lead up to the cockpit and bike level, and hesitated once he reached the top. He could easily sit right here and wait, but something was trying to compel him into the cockpit. Blue’s pull to her controls back on Earth had felt like a riptide, inexorable and inescapable. This felt more like a windstorm, insistent but not impossible to overcome.

He stood, and shut his eyes as Black guided him to her controls. If Shiro’s lion wanted to talk to him, it must be important. “What do you want?” he asked, hands clasping onto the back of Black’s pilot seat. Shiro’s pilot seat. The not-wind howled in his mind, and Lance realized with a start that he was talking to Black. Even Keith hadn’t talked to her before, and he’d been the one to pilot her when they’d been split up by the wormhole and Shiro was in danger. “Keith is the one who’s supposed to pilot you, not me.”

Black’s voice was higher than Blue’s, howling wind against waves on a shore, and after a few seconds Lance was able to make out the not-quite-words in the unearthly sound. _He is not qualified._

“And I am?”

_You are the heart of Voltron. Like the Blue Paladins before you, you care for your team more than yourself. You know their strengths, their weaknesses. You are uniquely suited to guide them to victory in the absence of your leader._

Okay, about half of that had been right, but even that wasn’t unique to him. Pidge kept much more careful tabs on their strengths and weaknesses, and Hunk cared about the team just as much as Lance did, if not more. “I’m really not,” he said softly. “And anyways, your Paladin is supposed to be a natural born leader, inspiring loyalty and followed without question and all that jazz. They’ve never listened to me,” he gripped the back of the seat tighter and squeezed his eyes shut, inhaling through his nose.

Blue purred in the back of his mind, the familiar and calming sound of gentle waves on a sandy shore, and he relaxed slightly as the tightness in his throat dissipated. “Thanks, girl,” he smiled. Black growled, the sound like a stiff breeze across a screen door, and Lance shivered as Blue quieted, her presence receding from his mind like the tide. “Shiro wanted Keith to lead Voltron,” he said to the empty cockpit. “He’s Shiro’s right hand man, _literally_ , and hasn’t he already piloted you once before?”

 _He is not qualified._ Black repeated. _And Red would not stand for it regardless._

“Well what about Blue?” Lance challenged, opening his eyes and staring at the inactive dashboard. “I’m _her_ Paladin, and we don’t exactly have an extra pilot sitting around.”

Blue made a pleased sound, like shallow water running over rounded stones, but Lance was only able to enjoy it for a second before his lion was drowned out by Black’s gale. _Finding a temporary pilot for her is closer than you may think._ Black said firmly, once Blue had gone quiet again.

“But still...” Lance trailed off, searching for something, anything to refute Black with. “You’re Shiro’s lion,” it sounded weak even to his own ears, and then a thought occurred to him. “Wait, can’t you just, like, connect to him? Red was able to go save Keith’s dumb ass, why haven’t you gone and gotten Shiro back?”

| _He is beyond my reach._ Black said sadly, like the sound of air grazing a hollow tube. _Which is why I need you._

Well, fuck. Lance inhaled shakily, and forced his fingers to uncurl from the back of the seat. “Only until we get Shiro back, right?” he stepped around towards the dashboard, one hand resting on the arm of the chair.

 _Blue would never let me keep you forever._ Black said, a distinct amusement in the gentle whistle of her voice. Distantly, Lance could hear Blue’s agreement like rough seas against a breakwater and her rush of possessive affection washed over him like a warm wave. He chuckled and sank into Black’s pilot seat. The dashboard lit up and he squinted a bit as the viewscreen came to life behind it. He hadn’t realized how dim Black’s interior lighting was until suddenly hangar light was in his eyes. Ow.

Once his eyes had adjusted, he gave the controls a cursory glance. They were just about identical to Blue’s, just in a different colour, and blank spaces jumped out at him where Blue’s dashboard displayed the sonic cannon and ice beam icons. A mental nudge from Black made Lance actually look at the viewscreen and he grimaced. Keith had returned, not just with Allura but with the whole team. If their faces were anything to go by, he’d completely lost track of time in here. He reached for the dashboard, intending to open Black’s mouth so he could go explain the situation, and froze with his hand halfway to the icon.

His armour looked wrong and it wasn’t just the lighting. The saturated blue was dulling before his eyes, darkening. Blackening. It didn’t take long at all for the colour to fade completely, his beloved Blue’s mark replaced by Black’s. “Guess there’s no taking it back now, huh?” he muttered, tapping the icon to open Black’s jaw as he stood up. The trip to the airlock took longer than he was used to, a difference he’d been too keyed-up to notice on his way in, and he paused before touching the operation panel which would let him out into the hangar.

Would they be mad? Allura had taken charge so quickly when they found Black empty after the battle and, as Princess, she _was_ technically their CO when Shiro wasn’t around. Now that he thought about it, she was a completely logical choice for Shiro’s stand-in. Keith was Shiro’s chosen stand-in, though, which gave him just as much claim to Black’s controls as Allura. Lance wouldn’t blame either of them if they were mad that he stole this position, this duty from them.

A breeze whispered in the back of his mind like a wordless sound of comfort, accompanied by familiar waves on a more familiar shore, and Lance exhaled as he pressed his hand to the panel. Only one way to find out.


End file.
